Card Ponds in Washington County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  In Rhode Island, Card Ponds falls inside Washington County. Salt water lies 0.7 miles off. It runs to roughly 50 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Start from Charlestown, 3.9 miles down the road. The nearest city of size is Providence, 32 miles away. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Card Ponds

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. Work the tide here — moving water feeds, slack water rests. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Fish documented in Washington County include alewife, bluegill, striped bass and blueback herring. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Card Ponds fishes better once you know its edges.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 71°F in July and bottom out at 29°F in January. The year gives four workable seasons without severe ends. In a normal year the cover is thin and short-lived. Late winter often fishes better here than midsummer does. On Card Ponds that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. Moonstone Beach Parking gives parking half a mile away. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. If the gate is shut, Trustom Pond at 0.8 miles is the nearest alternative. Nothing here settles the position at Card Ponds for certain.